Gish: Training to run Hudson

Updated 9:33 am, Friday, May 4, 2012

Todd Jennings, an ultrarunner from Orange County, will pass through the Capital Region on May 15 and 16 as he attemps to run the length of the Hudson River, all 315 miles. (Courtesy Ciorsdan Conran)

Todd Jennings, an ultrarunner from Orange County, will pass through the Capital Region on May 15 and 16 as he attemps to run the length of the Hudson River, all 315 miles. (Courtesy Ciorsdan Conran)

Photo: Todd's Laptop

Gish: Training to run Hudson

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What Todd Jennings is planning — to run the entire length of the Hudson River from Mount Marcy to New York City in eight days — makes a lot of sense if you're a runner.

Running teaches you things that allow you to go farther and faster. You learn a lot about energy gels and foam rollers and speedwork and the benefit of following a solid training plan. And you finish a half-marathon, swear you'll never do it again, and then sign up for the full 26.2 a week later because you might as well push it. But where it stops short of making sense is when the nearly 50-year-old Jennings says burning 6,000 calories a day on roads and trails and capping the night with an ice bath is only the beginning.

Really, covering 315 miles in eight days should be the final chapter in any runner's book, and to say blister-inducing runs of up to 47 miles with just a night's rest in between is the preface? That's just crazy.

You'll get a chance to ask the Orange County man about it when he passes through the Capital Region on May 15 and 16, Days 4 and 5 of his run. He's raising money for the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, a nonprofit group that aims to protect one of New York's most precious waterways. And if you can find him on the route, you can run with him for as long a stretch as you want and raise some money for the cause yourself. He has about $7,100 toward a goal of $50,000.

And maybe by Day 5, he'll have figured out what's next.

More Information

How to help

For more on the run or to donate, visit http://www.crowdrise.com/hudsonriverrun2012 or search for Hudson River Run on Facebook.

If you don't want to run with Todd Jennings, you can eat with him at the Albany Pump Station on May 15 and help him with his fundraising.

From 7 to 9 p.m. May 15, the restaurant, located at 19 Quackenbush Square, Albany, will donate part of the proceeds from the dinner bill to Hudson River Sloop Clearwater for anyone mentioning the river run.

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He started running at 16 because he wasn't a great baseball player and feared he wouldn't make varsity if he didn't show up for tryouts in shape. It worked. His baseball skills continued to lag, though, and even great conditioning wouldn't put him on the team the next season. Running stuck, however, even if it fell off and kicked up in intensity over the years.

In his mid- to late-20s, bar hopping took priority over putting miles on his sneakers. But when he was downsized from a job in 1996, he started running regularly again "to stop from going crazy." More recently, he realized he was not going to get much faster and age was working against him. So he decided if he couldn't shave seconds off his time, he'd add miles.

He's finished 10 marathons (including four Boston Marathons), four 50Ks and six Escarpment Trail Runs, a nationally known race in the Catskills billed as only being suitable for mountain goats. And when his two sons were younger, he pushed them in a double stroller through a 5K and placed eighth, maybe his most impressive achievement.

One year, he was looking for a challenge, so he put a map of New York's Harriman State Park on the wall and began sticking push pins in every marked trail he ran until he covered all 240 miles, becoming the first person to run every last mile in one season.

Then someone made the mistake of asking Jennings what he was going to do next, and in the spirit of anyone who's ever tried to conquer the Appalachian Trail or run from coast to coast, Jennings decided on the Hudson.

"A friend who's well-known in the ultrarunning community says you can always do more than you think you can, and the only thing that can possibly hold you back is what's in your mind," he says. "I guess what I'm trying to do is go beyond what my body is telling me I can do and do what my mind is telling me I can do."

He knows after the first couple days his legs will be screaming about what they can't do. And he'll employ the wisdom he picked up in some of his toughest races.

A few years ago, he decided to "wing" the Boston Marathon and not follow a strict training program. He'd never quit a marathon, but he came close in Boston that year, having to talk himself through the last seven or eight miles.

Then there was the time he took an ultrarunner's enthusiasm too far and decided he would run alone in a 100K (62-mile) race he usually ran as part of a five-man relay team. He had to quit 43.5 miles in. He quickly rattles off the list of things he did wrong, from not training on pavement and not eating enough calories to running through the mountains at a 9:45 pace. He won't make any of those mistakes again.

His speedwork is different from the typical 5K or marathon warrior. He's been taking his 30-mile training runs, which he does without listening to music, at a 10-minute-mile pace. And he expects to log 13-minute miles — a trot, really — for the Hudson River Run, which also will include some walking.

He will struggle. His legs will scream. But he says he'll focus a mile at a time along the river he's calling "the big blue ribbon" and then start looking ahead to the next big challenge.

"I don't really know what it's going to be for me, and that's the beauty in all of this," he says. "Everything is just wide-open."